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Local woman injured in dog attack during Florida vacation

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Plympton woman injured in a dog attack while on vacation in Florida is hoping investigators track down the owner who she said fled after the attack.

Taite Beale, 21, was vacationing with her boyfriend and his family last week. They had finished an airboat tour at Everglades Holiday Park Thursday when she said an unleashed dog that had been let out of its owner’s truck attacked her in the parking lot.

“I was scared. I was not expecting it at all. I didn’t touch the dog, didn’t call the dog. It was just very unprovoked,” Beale told Boston 25 News by Zoom Tuesday. “It happened within a matter of seconds. He ran at me and grabbed my elbow. And my boyfriend and his dad and uncle were trying to get the pit bull off me by punching it and kicking it.”

The dog, believed to be a gray pit bull, finally let go and ran back to the owner, who took off, leaving Beale “in a pool of blood,” waiting for an ambulance to the emergency room, she said.

“The guy bolted after that…he didn’t say anything really,” Beale said. “My whole elbow is kind of ripped apart. I don’t really have skin there or anything, and a lot of my deep tissue was exposed and open for a long time. And it still is.”

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Beale underwent treatment in Florida and returned home for further procedures. She will return to South Shore Hospital Thursday for another surgery to close her wounds and stop infection.

As law enforcement in Broward County investigates the attack, Beale hopes the dog owner will be held accountable.

“It could happen to someone else. Imagine if I were a 2-year-old or little kid. That would’ve been a whole different story,” Beale said. “So, if that could be prevented in the future, that’s all I really want.”

A senior at Bridgewater State University, Beale said her injuries have set her back in school and at work. But as she recovers, she is grateful the attack wasn’t worse.

“I’m very thankful I had people with me,” Beale said. “If I didn’t, it would’ve been so much different.”